CHOICE BASED LETTING SUCCESS
ONLY ONE REFUSAL HAS BEEN RECEIVED SINCE SYSTEM WAS INTRODUCED
THE new Choice Based Letting System for County Louth is proving very successful with just one refusal so far, it has been revealed.
Speaking at the July meeting of Drogheda Municipal District, the housing officer said the council are very happy with the way the new system is running so far with just one refusal.
She said the refusal was made because the property in question had no garden. ‘ That’s the only refusal and in fairness it was a genuine reason,’ said the housing officer.
‘It’s working very well, it is much faster and everyone is really happy with it,’ she said.
Councillor Tommy Byrne expressed his concern at the lack of properties available in the Drogheda area, claiming there had been 133 applications for one house in Aston Village.
Councillor Frank Godfrey said more single one storey units were needed to accommodate the aging population in Drogheda. He said he is aware of a lot of elderly people who would like to downsize.
Councillor Paul Bell asked if the person who had refused the house because it had no garden would be put back for a year.
‘I find that quite punitive if it was a genuine reason,’ he said.
The housing officer said under the Choice Based Letting scheme they would be put back for a year whereas under the previous system they could refuse a house twice before being put back. She said people have five to six chances to pullout along the way before the final acceptance and this person hadn’t.
She said the lack of garden would have been mentioned in the description of the property.
‘We would normally have a high rate of refusal so to only have one is a great success rate,’ she said. ‘When there is a high refusal rate it can lead to houses being left empty for months.’
Councillor Oliver Tully said he was encouraged by the number of social houses due to be built by the council over the coming year.
‘From where we were a couple of years ago it looks very bright,’ he said. ‘We all know it takes time.’